About 900 words
Any Briefer…..Is this the best way to use the system?
By Rose Marie Kern
A recent issue of AOPA magazine pointed out to pilots that the fastest way to get a weather briefer is to call the 1-800-WXBRIEF number and say “Any Briefer”.
Well, they are right, this is the way to get someone fast, but is this what you really want? When you say “Any Briefer” the phone tree will send your call to the first available specialist – without regard to where you are calling from.
There are times when this is just fine. For instance, if all you want to do is file a flight plan, “Any Briefer” will do. Other times when “Any Briefer” is appropriate include canceling a VFR flight plan, filing a pilot report, or asking general ATC questions. Just keep in mind that since you could be talking to someone not familiar with your area, you should have all the identifiers to fixes along your route handy.
If what you want is a flight briefing, especially low altitude, you probably will want to talk to a Briefer who is familiar with your area within a few hundred miles. They will more than likely know things about the terrain, the airports, and the weather patterns that someone from far away will not. Briefers have noted that pilots calling in using the “Any Briefer” are frustrated when the person they are speaking to is unfamiliar with aviation designators enroute, forcing the pilot to spell them all phonetically.
Lockheed Martin’s phone tree is set up so that if you call and ask for East Texas, and it happens that all the Briefers assigned to East Texas are busy, within a few seconds the system starts looking for an available Briefer in the surrounding states. It starts close in to where you are and circles outbound until it finds someone to take your call.
This accomplishes two things: it reduces your hold time, and it attempts to get your call to someone familiar with the area you will be departing. This system has significantly reduced hold times nationwide.
If you absolutely have to speak to someone at a specific facility, whoever answers your call can put your call back into the queue for that facility. In this case your call will stay in the queue until someone from that facility is available, which may involve holding for a few minutes.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the system allows you
flexibility when you need some information from some other place. For example, if you are in
Specialists from New Mexico or Colorado can help a flat-land pilot understand mountain flying, or you can call Illinois, Indiana, Michigan or Ohio to learn about flying the Great Lakes area. Have a question about the famous Santa Ana winds? Call California. This is a valuable tool for getting specific information well in advance of the actual flight.
The highest call volumes are between 6am and 10am in each time zone nationwide. Keeping this in mind, we suggest that if you do want pre-planning information, give Flight Service a call later in the day as a courtesy to other pilots whose flights are imminent.
Lockheed’s FS21 call tree also separates Briefing functions
from Clearance Delivery and NOTAM functions.
Clearance Delivery nationwide is 1-888-766-8267. When you call that number you will always get
a specialist in the state you have specified, even if you have to hold for a
few minutes until they are free.
Briefers in other areas may not be able to access the correct
By the same token if you are a westerner planning a flight to the D.C. area and are nervous about the ADIZ and FRZ procedures, the call tree has a special phone number just for this information 866-225-7410
Do you remember the TIB’s? Transcribed Information Broadcasts (TIBs) are still available to pilots. These are recordings of the weather and aviation information pertinent to predetermined routes. Some pilots prefer to call them instead of talking to a Briefer when they are flying short local hops. The TIBs phone number is 1-877-484-2799.
Another special phone number is only for helicopter operations over the Gulf of Mexico. Call 1-877-654-7449 if you are a helicopter pilot. The specialists who answer this line are familiar with the routings and squawk code requirements of flying over the Gulf.
Some pilots have problems with the voice recognition feature of the FS21 phone tree. In this case you can use the touch tone pad on your phone to request the state of your choice. Most of the states are simply the postal abbreviation – for example, Arizona is AZ or 29. A list of the codes is posted on the www.afss.com website under “Pilot tips”.
The FS21 phone tree allows you great flexibility when it comes to flight planning and briefs. Be sure you know what you want before you call and ask for “Any Briefer” and you will have a more pleasant briefing experience.
Rose Marie Kern works at Lockheed Martin’s ABQ AFSS. If you’d like to ask Rose a question send her an email at author@rosemariekern.com.